my job rocks

I have been dreading Thursday night for over a week. It's PTA curriculum night, and for the first time in my RN Harris life I have Pre-K parents signed up to come! I've been freaking out since Friday afternoon of last week... that is, I WAS freaking out... until I started thinking about what to do. As I thought (some outloud with my amazing roommate) about how to talk about literacy and math with a handful of parents, I just thought, "what would I want to know if I were a parent" and "what can I do to NOT make this meeting boring." Plus, I don't like talking in front of adults for very long. Little people I'm cool with... adults are a different story! Leanne and I went to the dollar store and bought $10 worth of random things. We came home and proceeded to make a LONG list of how to use these things to teach concepts that are in the NC standard course of study for Pre-Kindergarten. We even got Chris involved in the brainstorming. As I typed out the list and then created my hands-on agenda for the meeting, I actually found myself getting excited about it! I love what I teach. I love the way these kids learn, and the crazy, fun, imaginative ways I get to teach them. I actually get excited about helping parents know better how to teach their children. I really and truly love my job. What a blessing!

And one more thing... anyone who talked to me about my kids AT ALL last year knows without a doubt about Ke'Shaun. Ah... my little Ke'Shaun. Teachers don't have favorites... but if they did... hehe :) Anyway, Ke'Shaun was a baby when he came to me. He was still only 3 years old and was the youngest in the class. Though at the end of the year his social and physical skills were right on track, I honestly wondered how he'd do in kindergarten this year. Today I received the best job evaluation a teacher could ever ask for. Ke'Shaun's teacher came to me in the cafeteria today and said that I'd be so proud of him. She said that he read all of the class sight words to the class today and that I just HAD to come hear him read them. I went by during my kids' naptime and sure enough, he read every one of them. I asked the teacher if that was normal and she said that only about 6 kids in the class can read them all. She said Ke'Shaun is one of the hardest workers in the class. She said he may not know everything right away, but he works so hard that he gets it and he learns quickly. My Ke'Shaun is no baby anymore. He is a bright, SMART Kindergartner. And I could not be more proud.

Let me just say it one more time... I love my job.